By Brad Cook

From Cairo’s bazaar, with its assortment of odd merchants, to the city’s Wild Mummy bar, Assil has been the talk of the town. The impetuous youth turned a death curse into a brush with fame when he traveled to the underworld, thwarted Osiris’ fiendish plans, and had the curse removed. He turned down a grateful Pharaoh’s offer of half of Egypt and his daughter’s hand, preferring instead to try his luck with Thara, the Arabian ambassador’s daughter. He even managed to keep ownership of the Ankh, which originally cursed him when an awakened mummy hung it around his neck.

When we caught up with Assil, however, his luck had taken a turn for the worse: He had woken up in a dingy alley with a hangover, the Ankh gone. Scruffy-faced and out of sorts, he nevertheless agreed to let us accompany him for a while as he tried to figure out who stole his treasure. If there’s one thing we know about this son of a pyramid architect, it’s his penchant for getting into trouble and undertaking a few madcap adventures to pull himself out of the mess.

Think Fast

As we walk toward the bazaar, Assil shows me a letter. It’s from the Pharaoh’s daughter, who asks: “Why in the world have you spurned me? I lie here longing to be taken in your manly arms.” The note is signed by “Your future wife.” Assil sighs and tells me: “Nice letter. Too bad Thara found it and interpreted it in totally the wrong way.” Apparently in his world, there’s more than one way to define the words “spurned,” “longing,” and “future wife.”

Always the smooth talker, Assil quickly strikes up a conversation with the merchant Take Tut Cashun and obtains a betting slip. It seems like an odd thing to request, but his cocksure smile lets me know that it will come in handy at some point. Soon we’re wandering through the bazaar, where Assil talks his friend Fatima into lending him a parrot in a birdcage and picks up a few odds and ends from other places.

The birdcage comes in handy when Assil hangs it on a hook in an abandoned shop, where a few stray cats attack it and manage to make a mess of the place in their frenzy. Assil plucks a small case from the rubble, finding some wax inside. Before I can make sense of his plan, I find myself frantically following him as he figures out a way to get the fire-breather Volcano to melt the wax, which a merchant uses to remove his scruffy beard, enabling him to get past the bouncer at the Wild Mummy bar.

Put Found Objects to Use

Pick up stuff. Use objects in combination with each other, or ask others to perform actions with them. Flash that “I’m flying by the seat of my loincloth but I’ll make you think I know what I’m doing” smile. That seems to be Assil’s modus operandi, and he acknowledges it got him as far as the underworld. Now he must use it to defeat Osiris once more.

But first, he faces new tasks inside the Wild Mummy. Fatima is unhappy about the state of her parrot and its cage. The slave driver could really use a drink. The comedian needs some new employment after being fired by the pharaoh. Other patrons have problems of their own. If Assil can make them happy, he’ll cheer up Fatima too, and maybe she’ll have some information about the mysterious Ankh thieves.

Unfortunately, one of the barflies is Badawi, who Assil hasn’t seen since that fateful day in the Scarab King’s tomb, when a mummy placed a curse on him. More self-absorbed than Assil, Badawi barely remembers the incident, preferring to dismiss Cairo as “a hick town” and talking up the wonders of Luxor, where he now lives. He’ll be the toughest one to please.

Assil shrugs. He’ll concoct some kind of plan, and it looks like he’s eyeing the tools near the fireplace in the corner. Badawi said something about needing some fresh air, but before I can follow that line of thought, Assil dashes out the door, and a few seconds later I hear a crash. All in a day’s work for the former — sorry, soon to be ex-former — owner of the Ankh. Maybe this time he’ll accept the Pharaoh’s offer.

You Guys Look Familiar. Those of you who played the first game probably remember those clueless assassins.

You on th’ List, Buddy? There must be some way to get past the Wild Mummy’s aggressive bouncer.

Polly Wants the Ankh! Fatima will regret lending you that parrot, but you need it.

The Wild Mummy Bar. Turn all of those smiley faces happy to complete your task at this watering hole.

Upstairs, Downstairs. You can get a cocktail from the wine merchant in the upper right corner, but where can you make someone happy by giving them a drink?

If you liked this game, check out:

• A Tale in the Desert III
• Ankh
• Ankh: Battle of the Gods
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online
• Riddle of the Sphinx II: The Omega Stone
• Tomb Raider Anniversary

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X version 10.3.9
• 1.4GHz PowerPC G4 or Intel processor
• 512MB of RAM
• 64MB video RAM (Intel GMA 950 chipset supported)
• 1GB hard disk space